


out of sight (but on my mind)

by afinefineplace



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Blind!Seungmin, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Funny, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Seungmin makes hyunjin flustered uwu, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, only light angst though, probably, probably very slow, soccer player!hyunjin, sometimes maybe, tagging is hard, uh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-06-02 16:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afinefineplace/pseuds/afinefineplace
Summary: He explained what happened, not that the teacher hadn’t already heard, and provided a doctor’s note, explaining that he couldn’t participate for the next 4 months, and that for the 2 months after that he was still banned from doing anything too strenuous.Approaching the bench slowly and steadily, Hyunjin saw the person who was also exempt from gym, and mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. How could he possibly forget about him?Kim Seungmin. The blind kid.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello! I've never had the courage to post any fics I've written, and I'm excited to share this now! Before you read, I want to clarify a few things that will make understanding some parts of the story easier. I set this in an American school system, as that's what I know. That said, Hyunjin, Changbin, Jisung, and Seungmin are all juniors in high school in this story. Also, I want to disclaim that all though I used to play soccer, I never sustained these injuries nor do I know everything about the sport, so I apologize for any discrepancies. Lastly, I myself am blind in one of my eyes, but I've never experienced complete blindness, so once again, I apologize if anything related to Seungmin's experience is wrong. Research isn't real life experience after all! That's all for now, so I hope you enjoy the chapter!

_ “Chan! I’m open!” _

_ The crowd cheers as Chan perfectly passes Hyunjin the ball, who turns to run toward the goal. The clock is ticking, only four minutes left in the second game of the season and the teams are tied 1-1. The star striker of the soccer team making a clean run toward the goal? To the crowd, this was like a scene out of a movie, and they were eating it up. _

_ “Hyunjin! Hyunjin! Hyunjin!” they chant. _

_ Having already gotten past the midfielders, Hyunjin only faces one more obstacle before he takes his shot: the defense. This team’s defense was notoriously aggressive, but he has no intention of letting them stop him. Running down the center, the other team’s defenders form a loose triangle around him, while the middle defender rushes to meet Hyunjin’s position. Hyunjin sweeps his right leg to the left in front of the ball in an attempt to fake out the defender. _

_ He turns to dribble right, but before he gets the chance, the defender kicks out toward Hyunjin’s right leg just as Hyunjin pivots on his left. Within an instant he has his cleat hooked under Hyunjin’s leg, twisting his leg in a way that a leg definitely isn’t made to move. That’s when both boys hear it. _

_ An audible POP, followed by Hyunjin’s body hitting the grass below. _

_ A millisecond later, the referee blows his whistle, signaling a yellow card, but the piercing sound is drowned out by Hyunjin’s gut-wrenching scream. _

_ - _

Hyunjin bolted awake, sweat soaking his shirt as he sat straight up in his bed, breathing heavily. A glance at the clock let him know that he still had a couple hours left before he had to wake for school, but he knew that sleep would not be coming any time soon. He laid back and focused his gaze at the ceiling above. Ever since  _ the incident _ , as overly polite people around him had dubbed it, he repeatedly had nightmares about that day- the day that felt like his whole life had been ripped away from him. As he attempted to calm himself down, he closed his eyes, and drifted into the strange space between sleep and consciousness.

Hyunjin didn’t remember much of what happened after the incident, only Chan running over, hovering beside him as he said things that Hyunjin couldn’t distinguish. He vaguely recalled Jeongin’s worried face appearing by Chan’s shortly after. Whatever they might have said, though, was lost upon him, the world around him sounding and looking as though he was underwater. It wasn’t long before he blacked out from the pain.

The next morning he woke in the hospital to the faces of his mother and Seo Changbin, his best friend. They explained the situation: He had completely torn his ACL in his right leg, and he’d also sustained a tear in his MCL. He was going to undergo surgery in a few days, and wouldn’t be able to play soccer for at least 6 months, though it was likely that recovery would take even longer. All the other information went in one ear and out the other after the statement “won’t be able to play soccer for at least 6 months.”

Soccer was, to say the least, Hyunjin’s life. He’d made most of his friends through soccer. He spent most of his free time practicing, and he had become really good. Like,  _ really good. _ He’d never been a straight A student per say, so soccer was the one thing he had going for him.

After they stopped speaking, Hyunjin mumbled a half-hearted excuse about being tired and asked them to leave. Sensing his discomfort, they bid him farewell and walked out of the room, leaving him to try and figure out what the hell he was supposed to do now.

-

Fast forward to 4am on the following Monday: Hyunjin’s first day back after “the incident” last Tuesday. He didn’t have to be awake until five- scratch that- seven, now that he couldn’t exactly go to morning practice. He pondered what to do knowing that he wouldn’t be falling back asleep without reliving his nightmare. Looking over at the desk near his bed, he saw the ridiculous pile of schoolwork that he’d have to catch up on, neatly piled there by Changbin.

He and Changbin had been friends practically since birth and he was one of the only friends Hyunjin had that wasn’t on the soccer team. Their mothers had been good friends in college, and ended up living in close proximity once they’d both settled down to start families. Changbin and Hyunjin had quite literally grown up together, and although their interests took them down different paths, they still remained close. While Hyunjin had been the athletic type, Changbin was more of an artist, spending his free time dancing a brush across a canvas. He had zero interest in sports, though, for Hyunjin’s sake, he attended a game every once in a while, making sure to sit far away from the packs of rowdy teenagers who always managed to raid their parents alcohol cabinets before attending. After the incident, he’d been kind enough to go to Hyunjin’s teachers and ask for his work, despite the knot in his stomach that came with talking to new people.  _ Anything for Hyunjin _ , he told himself.

So, for the first time in five days, Hyunjin decided to try and be productive. Sitting up slowly, he slid the blanket off and glared at the brace on his leg, as he’d made a habit of doing so when he woke up and before he fell asleep. Careful to not move his knee too much, he pulled himself up to stand on his good leg and hopped over to the desk, not bothering with his crutches. Before starting in at all the work he was going to half ass and then turn in with the hope of some pity points, he picked up his phone for the second time since last Tuesday.

He had several day old notifications from Jisung and Minho, who he’d yet to speak to since “the incident”. He felt kind of embarrassed, and most of all, guilty, like he let the team down. The only one from the team he’d talked to was Chan, the captain. Even then, it was only once, when he had sent a “ _ don’t worry, I’m ok, but don’t think I’ll be playing for a while _ ,” text when he was left alone in the hospital room after coming to. Chan was clearly worried but didn’t push, just saying that he wished that Hyunjin would feel better soon and to let him know if he needed anything. Apart from that, the only real socialization Hyunjin had had was with Changbin, who stopped by every evening with something to try and cheer Hyunjin up, whether it was a snack or movies for them to marathon together. Setting down his phone, he picked up the first assignment and begrudgingly got to work.

-

7:15, the clock read. Hyunjin rubbed his eyes and looked at his progress, which amounted to maybe three out of the thousand assignments he had due. Not much, but for Hyunjin, it felt like he’d just run a marathon.  _ Scratch that, a marathon would be more fun than this _ , he thought. It was officially time to start getting ready for school. Grabbing one crutch for the trek to his closet, he grabbed the first things in site. When you’re barely mobile, fashion isn’t really your first priority. He couldn’t even wear jeans, or joggers, or long pants in general, so he was stuck with shorts, even though it was October and the weather was getting chillier by the day. Through a process of wiggling and hopping and keep his injured leg completely straight because of the brace, he managed to get dressed in one piece.

A soft knock on the door followed by a quiet, “Hyunjin, are you almost ready, sweetie? I made some breakfast for you before we go.”

Hyunjin sighed, and stood up, grabbing his crutches. “Yes mom, I’ll be out in a second.”

He grabbed his bag, shoving in the few assignments he’d actually finished. Heading toward his door, Hyunjin couldn’t help but think,  _ this is going to be a long day. _

-

Upon his arrival back to school, Hyunjin realized quickly that all eyes were on him. People didn’t really say a lot  _ to  _ him, other than the occasional “feel better soon”, or “how are you feeling?”, but it seems that everyone had something to say  _ about  _ him. He’d always been popular, ever since becoming the star striker of the soccer team, not to mention his natural good looks, but Hyunjin had never really been the source of  _ this _ kind of attention, the whispers behind your back kind. Walking toward his first period class, Hyunjin got the same overwhelming feeling as that night, the feeling that he had let everyone down.

-

The day dragged on, Hyunjin quietly focusing on the work given to him until he could finally escape to a class that had some of his friends in it, which were few and far between. He was still anxious to see the friends he had selfishly been avoiding while he was out, but anything was better than having to work in complete silence during class. By the time his third period class rolled around, Hyunjin was more than ready to just go home and hibernate for the next six months so he could finally play again. Luckily, Jisung, his teammate and close friend, as well as Changbin, both shared that oh-so-riveting class with him, aka: statistics. As soon as he hobbled into the classroom, Hyunjin was rushed by Jisung, whose expression was a mix of excitement and worry. The moment Jisung opened his mouth, Hyunjin knew he was in for a ride. 

“Hyunjin! You’re back! I was so worried! Are you ok? Well obviously you’re not, I mean, look at you, but I mean like, still, are you ok? Why haven’t you been texting the team back? Why haven’t you been texting ME back??”

Hyunjin waited a moment to make sure that Jisung was done, before lightly pushing past him to take a seat. He was trailed by a quiet Changbin, who placed a soft hand on his shoulder, using the other to slide Hyunjin’s crutches from his grasp so he could help prop them less precariously against the side of their pair of desks. Jisung stood there, looking at Hyunjin expectantly, his gaze clearly softer after really taking a moment to look at Hyunjin’s state: tousled hair, not bothered to be done up like usual, his shorts despite the nippy weather, and most noticeably the brace adorning his knee and leg. Hyunjin finally looked up at Jisung after settling in his chair.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”  _ He wasn’t, really, but he’s not going to say that.  _ “Sorry that I haven’t been texting you guys back much, my pain meds made me drowsy so I haven’t even been awake much.”  _ This was partially true, his medication really did make him drowsy, but he was awake more often than not and he’d seen all the messages. He just didn’t know how to respond.  _ “Sorry for worrying you guys.” Hyunjin just left it at that, giving his best “I’m better than ever” smile, not wanting to get into it right now, or ever really.

Jisung just responded with a weak smile in return and nodded, adding on an “It’s ok, don’t apologize, we just wanted to see if you were feeling any better is all,” before taking his seat behind the other two, but not before making eye contact with Changbin, expressing his concern silently.

It was no surprise that Hyunjin was a little quiet at first, slightly awkward after all that had happened, but by the time statistics was over, he was chatting and joking like his old self again, much to Changbin and Jisungs’ relief. They walked, ever so slowly, to their fourth period, which is also the one Hyunjin had been dreading, P.E. Good ol’ physical education, what once was Hyunjin’s favorite, a place to be active while goofing off with his friends, now a place where he couldn’t do anything. Walking into the gym, Changbin and Jisung parted ways to go change into their uniforms, leaving Hyunjin to go talk to his teacher himself. He explained what happened, not that the teacher hadn’t already heard, and provided a doctor’s note, explaining that he couldn’t participate for the next 4 months, and that for the 2 months after that he was still banned from doing anything too strenuous.

Given the relatively good weather, the teacher suggested that they go outside for today’s class. Hyunjin found Changbin and Jisung again and they followed everyone out the doors. The teacher motioned for Hyunjin to go sit on the bench once they made it outside. Bidding his friends goodbye, he turned to start walking over to the bench, already grabbing his phone and earbuds out of his pocket. Finally looking up, he saw that he’s not the only one benched today. Approaching slowly and steadily, Hyunjin saw the person who was also exempt from gym, and mentally kicked himself for not realizing it sooner. How could he possibly forget about him?

Kim Seungmin. The blind kid.

Kim Seungmin, almost a cryptid around these parts.

Well, not really, but to Hyunjin it sure seemed that way. He’d heard plenty of stories, and he knew they’d been going to the same school since middle school started (since a blind boy transferring into your school is a big deal for people who’ve not met anyone, well, blind), but he had rarely seen him despite the shared class, and had never talked to him in his life.

Approaching the opposite edge of the bench, Hyunjin quietly sat down, setting his crutches down in the grass beside him. He spared a glance at the boy on the opposite end next to him, and felt himself looking for a moment too long, not at anything in particular, whipping is head back around quickly, feeling a slight blush spread across his face. Only then did he remember that, well, Seungmin is blind. He probably couldn’t even tell he had been silently looking. This fact hitting Hyunjin caused him to flush with embarrassment again, and at this point he just felt ridiculous. Hyunjin couldn’t believe how awkward he was being for no reason; it was totally unlike his usually cool demeanor. He reminded himself that Seungmin was just another classmate, so why was he acting so weird? It’s not like he’d never seen Seungmin, everyone’s  _ at least _ heard of him, but they’d never talked, and he’d definitely never been this close to him. Hyunjin wasn’t sure if he should say something or just hope the other boy hadn’t heard him walking over (unlikely considering his clumsy crutches walk). Hyunjin’s internal battle over what would be rude or not was interrupted by a soft voice.

“Um, hi there, who, exactly, is there? Or did you think I didn’t hear you walk over.”

Hyunjin was torn out of his thoughts with a jump, and whipped his head around.  _ It’s like he read my mind.  _ Seungmin had an awkward smile on his face, a slight breathy laugh slipping from him after he finished speaking. His expression definitely matched the feeling of the silence that spread between the two boys, as Hyunjin regained his composure and attempted to formulate a response.

“Oh yeah, uh, no I didn’t… I well, anyways I’m Hwang Hyunjin…sorry,” he oh-so-smoothly responded, not fully sure what about the other boy made him a stuttering mess. Confusion with himself set in, questioning where his confidence decided to hide away.

Luckily, Hyunjin’s worries subsided slightly upon realizing that Seungmin’s face displayed a faint smile as he lightly chuckled and responded in that same, soft tone.

“No need to apologize, I was just teasing. Anyway, I should’ve expected that it was you. I’m Seungmin, but you probably already knew that. How long are you stuck here on the bench?”

For a moment he was once again confused, this time by Seungmin’s words, but Hyunjin felt himself relax a little once he thought about it.  _ Of course it’s obvious I would be sitting out, it’s not often a spectacle like that happens during a high school soccer game. Not that he could have… watched it I guess but, anyway. He seems nice, and he’s not weird or anything.  _ Hyunjin mentally slapped himself for that thought. Of course he wouldn’t be any weirder than the average person. He noticed that getting lost in his thoughts again wouldn’t be the most ideal situation again, so he piped up,

“A few months. Maybe around 4, but it’s up to the physical therapist so, until then…” Hyunjin found himself trailing off.

“Until then…we’ll be bench buddies!” Seungmin finished his sentence for him, gleaming with an open mouthed smile like he just said something he found really clever. Hyunjin couldn’t help but give a small smile back, paired with one of those “strong exhale through one’s nose” laughs back, and he nodded to Seungmin shyly. A moment passed and Seungmin, seeming way more timid than his last exclamation, said,

“You either just nodded at me or thought that that was a really weird thing for me to say. Sorry, I just kind of blurted out the first thing I thought and we don’t even really know each other at all, so why would I even say that? I mean if a practical stranger said that to me? I’d be-”

Hyunjin realized what was happening and quickly cut him off. “No, hey, I actually did just nod, I just totally forgot about the whole...”

“Blind thing,” Seungmin supplied.

“Yeah, the…blind thing, I guess and it’s just a habit. I mean it was kind of weird but not like,  _ weird _ weird, it was kind of… ( _ endearing) _ funny! So don’t worry about it, it’s all good dude.”

Seungmin’s shoulders dropped in relief as he responded, this time paired with a more shy smile, “Oh ok. Sorry, then. I just never really know, ya know? Can’t exactly see the body language so I feel like I need to clarify sometimes.”

__ Hyunjin just gave a small, “Yeah, that makes sense,” in return, and, feeling the conversation come to a natural close, turned his head to look out onto the field where his friends were to be playing flag football. The same field where  _ it _ happened.

To his surprise, Changbin was already looking at him, and they exchanged a wave to each other. For a moment, Hyunjin allowed himself to look upon the other students running around and playing without a care in the world with envy, and he realized that he’d never truly understood the meaning of the phrase, ‘you never realize what you have until it’s gone,’ until now.

With the blow of the teacher’s whistle, Hyunjin grabbed his crutches and began the trek back to the building without another word to Seungmin or anyone else.


	2. teammates

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i am back with another chapter, sorry it took so long! just wanted to say thank you for the support and kind words on my last chapter! it really inspired me to keep working! I hope you enjoy this one, where you get to meet lots of new people!

Hyunjin didn’t bother to wait for Changbin and Jisung to get changed before he crutched along to his last class, art. Ignoring the greetings from his classmates (most of which had never tried to talk to him before today), he sat down and offered a polite greeting to his seatmate before pulling out his phone. He had a message from Changbin, but he decided to skip over it for now. Hyunjin also had another message pending, this time from his mom. It read, __

_ “Hi sweetie! I hope you’re having a great first day back! I hate to do this but do you think you could ask Jisung if his mom could give you a ride home? I have a deadline to meet by tonight that I really need to work on. Sorry to spring this on you, honey!! Let me know the answer so I can plan accordingly if necessary! Love you dear!!!!” _

Hyunjin shot a quick text to Jisung and sighed deeply, pressing his palms to his forehead and closing his eyes for a moment. If Hyunjin was being honest, he was  _ exhausted.  _ Hyunjin always found himself to be a relatively extroverted person, but after everything, he couldn’t find his previously everlasting energy to deal with the constant social interaction expected of him today. It was as though with every overhead whisper about himself, a bit of his battery was drained.

Pulling him from his thoughts, his seatmate placed a gentle hand on Hyunjin’s shoulder to get his attention and flashed him a warm smile. “Hey, you good?”

Hyunjin quickly put on his signature grin and threw him a thumbs up.

“Great! Thanks for asking, though.”

You’d think that after over a month of sitting together, Hyunjin would’ve developed more of a relationship with the person who he literally shared a table with daily, and yet all he knew was his name, that he was a senior, and that he’d never seen anyone more skilled at sculpting than him. His work was crazy, and Hyunjin couldn’t believe he was allowed to make his mediocre drawings in the presence of such talent. 

Focusing on the assignment that he’d been working on for the last week, Hyunjin picked up his pencil and tried to clear his mind, secretly willing the clock to tick a bit faster. 

-

As the final bell of the day rang, Hyunjin stayed seated and pulled his earbuds in. He told himself he was just waiting until the halls cleared a bit, but in reality he was just avoiding going out to the field where he’d have to face the entire team. He couldn’t help but feel like they were going to be mad at him, and he still felt so guilty. When Jisung agreed to give him a ride home, it slipped Hyunjin’s mind that he’d have to wait for the soccer teams’ ace goalie to be done with practice before they could actually leave.

After about 15 minutes had past and the art teacher had a look on his face that was screaming “can you please leave I just want to go home,” Hyunjin gathered his bag and tried to both mentally and physically prepare himself for the trek outside.

_ Seriously, why didn’t anyone tell him how uncomfortable and slightly painful using crutches could be?? _

Hyunjin pushed open the gym doors leading toward the soccer field and felt the sunlight streaming down his face, and he took a moment to rest and bask in its warmth. This brief moment was interrupted by Jisung’s loud voice. It was like he had a Hyunjin sensor or something, good grief. He was hurtling toward him at a dangerously fast pace and was screaming at the top of his lungs.

“HYUN. JIN. IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeOO-HEY OUCH! ” 

Just before Jisung could cause a regrettable collision, Hyunjin lifted one of his crutches horizontally, causing Jisung to barrel straight into the end of it at top speed. Hyunjin couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of him as he stood before Jisung’s sputtering frame. Clutching his stomach, Jisung glared at Hyunjin menacingly.

“If it weren’t for the laws of this land, I would have slain you….seriously though what the heck man!! I, such an amazing friend, greet you with only LOVE and this is what I GET!!”

Hyunjin still couldn’t form coherent words through his laughing spell, and Jisung just glared at him and waited. 

“Listen, that was hilarious, and also it is not my fault that you were dumb enough to run with your eyes closed. And I’m 90% sure you’ve taken soccer balls to the stomach way worse than that, so...” 

“THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN TRY TO KILL ME!”

“Fine, fine. Sorry. It was still hilarious though.” They turned to walk toward the field where Chan was about to start practice.

“Ok, first of all. Fuck you. Second of all. I only accept apologies in the form of snacks, so, until then I do not forgive you,” Jisung said with a joking pout. 

“Why are we friends again?” Hyunjin rolled his eyes but let out a slight chuckle, and Jisung gave him a light pat on the back as they arrived at the sideline, just in time to hear Chan’s commanding voice. 

“All right boys, let’s start our warm up laps, five times around the field and then meet back here so we can stretch! Go!”

The moment he finished that statement, Chan’s head snapped over to where they were standing, specifically to Jisung. “What are you waiting for? Go!”

Jisung’s eyes widened and he took off down the sideline, leaving Hyunjin leaning on his crutches all alone. Chan was making his way over with a stern face, and Hyunjin felt himself start to sweat a bit. _ He knew they’d be mad, he knew he disappointed them, he knew- _

A warm hand fell on his shoulder.

“Hyunjin! What are you doing here? How are you feeling? Shouldn’t you be resting? You don’t want to strain yourself. I’m glad to see you in one piece though, we all were worried!”

Hyunjin snapped out of his self deprecating thoughts to look Chan in the eye, only to see that his stern face was not one of disappointments, but that of concern and understanding. Hyunjin felt his tense shoulders drop and he smiled a bit, feeling at least partially relieved.

“Hey Captain,” Hyunjin said with a grin, knowing how embarrassed Chan got when called by that title, “Thanks for the concern, really, but I’m doing better, and they wouldn’t give me crutches if I wasn’t supposed to use them right?”

Laughing, Chan responded. “Even after all that, you’re still a little piece of-”

“Hyunjin? HYUNJIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

Both boys turned their heads in the direction of the sound to see Jeongin’s wide eyes and ear-to-ear smile jogging toward them. The younger boy arrived, skidding to a halt, and, after catching his breath, enveloped Hyunjin in a warm hug.

“I’m so glad you’re ok I was so worried and when you passed out at the game I was so scared I couldn’t even remember to call 911 and and that’s my job as the team manager and I couldn’t even do that and I should’ve visited to make sure you were ok but then you didn’t answer the team group chat and I’m sorry,” Jeongin sniffled. 

Hyunjin was taken aback, to say the least, but he hugged the younger boy back carefully. Jeongin was like the younger brother he never had, and he hated that he had caused him so much trouble. He tried to reassure him the best he could.

“Hey, hey there it’s alright! Look at me! I’m just fine! You did the best you could, and I’m proud of you! Don’t worry about me dude, it’s okay, really.”

Chan piped in, “Jeongin, you are not to blame. In fact, neither of you are. It’s the fault of that player who wanted to play dirty and some cruel force of the universe.”

Hyunjin took in both of the teammates,  _ friends _ , in front of him and couldn’t help but smile. Between the constant feelings of burden and sadness from the incident, and the stress from coming back and trying to get back into the swing of things, Hyunjin was on the verge of defeat. Knowing he had so many people around him who cared about him and could reassure him that they didn’t blame him took some of the weight off his conscious. Turning his head toward the field where his other teammates were collecting, he made eye contact with Minho, their strongest defender, who smiled warmly and gave a small wave. Sometimes a look was worth a thousand unspoken words, and Hyunjin’s heart almost felt full as he made his way over to the bleachers as practice officially started. 

He found himself thinking that the only thing missing was being out on the field himself. 

-

The sun was setting and Hyunjin was laying flat across the cold metal of the bleachers, watching the darkening sky and getting lost in aimless daydreams of soccer and a certain dark haired boy who he’d met earlier.

It was strange meeting someone who he had only ever heard about and seen from a distance, especially someone like Seungmin, who was no stranger to gossip about himself. Hyunjin had heard plenty of things, good and bad. He was told that Seungmin was shy, kind of boring, but nice. He had heard that he was noisy and annoying if you let him talk. He’d heard so many different and contradicting things, and it seemed none of them really fit the boy he met today. Despite only having a short conversation, Hyunjin could tell that none of the negative things people said about Seungmin were true. 

As his thoughts about Seungmin trailed off, Hyunjin closed his eyes and scrunched his nose, dozing off into a light sleep in the warm fall breeze…

...And was awoken as soon as he closed his eyes, or so it seemed, by a sweaty Jisung nudging his shoulder. When Hyunjin opened his eyes, he was face to face with Jisung’s big round eyes boring into his soul, nearly giving him a heart attack and causing him to jerk up from his previous position, only to smack foreheads with the other soccer player. 

Jisung jerked back and winced in pain. “Dude! Ouch! You seriously are trying to murder me today aren’t you!”

“Why would you try to wake me up like that in the first place?!!?” retorted Hyunjin, pressing his hand to his forehead in an attempt to stop the pain.

They both glared at each other for about ten seconds until they broke out into a fit of giggles. It was then that Hyunjin looked around to see that the night sky had taken over dusk and the stadium lights were already lit.  _ Had he really been asleep for that long? _ Looking at his phone, the time read 8:04. He grabbed all of his stuff and reached for his crutches, struggling a bit. When Jisung offered to help, however, he quickly denied.

Making their way to Jisung’s car wasn’t bad once they made it to solid concrete, and the two boys walked along at a steady pace, waving goodbye to their teammates, who were also leaving. Out of the corner of his eye, Hyunjin swore he saw a familiar face, and upon a second glance, his suspicions were confirmed: There in the flesh, the man, the myth, the legend, Seungmin.  _ What in the world was he doing here? It’s not like he could watch the practice or anything..? _

Then, to the left of Seungmin, he saw Jeongin, and  _ ohhhh, they must be friends.  _ How did Jeongin even know Seungmin? And if they were friends, how had Hyunjin never known or noticed before? And why did Hyunjin even care so much?

“Dude, are you just going to stand there looking off into space or do you want to like, actually get in the car?”

Hyunjin elbowed Jisung and muttered a quiet “Oh, fuck off,” before climbing into the back seat, politely greeting Jisung’s mom. Hyunjin’s ride home was uneventful, spent mostly exchanging small talk with the Han’s. Upon arriving home, Hyunjin stopped by his mom’s office to tell her goodnight, where she was still laboring away on the project she’d mentioned earlier. After all the events that unfolded throughout that day, Hyunjin wanted nothing more than to sleep, ignoring his rumbling stomach as he scooted up the stairs. Finally making it to his room, he didn’t even bother to change before flopping down onto his sheets. 

As he went to bed, completely drained, he found himself drifting off the same way he did on the bleacher earlier, wondering about what the future would bring for him and his new “bench buddy.”

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it may have seemed a little bit filler, but I wanted y'all to get to know more characters before they became more prominent later. I promise things will slightly pick up with hyunjin and seungmin next time! Feel free to leave me comments on anything you liked or disliked or anything in between! until next time!


	3. pancakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! finally, an update! I've had a lot going on in my personal life these days and things have been hectic but I'm finally getting used to it and finding time to write more. Anywho, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

The next morning, Hyunjin was pulled out of his blissful sleep by the angry sound of his alarm. He definitely did NOT get as much sleep as he wish he had. Trying to reach the blaring phone on his nightstand, slapping his hand around with zero luck, Hyunjin sat up fuming, only to find he was very close to the edge of his bed. So close, in fact, that the force of him sitting up caused him to tumble to the floor, his hand catching on his phone’s charger, thus bringing his phone crashing down with him. He landed with a loud thump, hearing the bitter sound of his phone slamming on the hardwood floor, followed by an eerie silence. 

His alarm had stopped.  _ Shit _ .

He scooted over to his phone to see it completely shattered, and a click of the power button told him it was beyond repair. With a loud sigh, he laid back on the cool floor and just closed his eyes.  _ If this was how his day was starting, he couldn’t foresee the rest of it being any better. _

His thoughts were quickly interrupted as his door flew open to reveal a flustered and worried Changbin.

Panting, Changbin gave Hyunjin a onceover and asked, “Are you ok? What happened? Why are you on the floor?”

Hyunjin dragged a hand across his foerhead and groggily responded. “Mm... I fell out of bed trying to turn off my alarm. I’m fine. My phone, however, did not survive the fall,” he said, holding up his shattered phone, eyes still shut. “Also, why are you at my house at like, 7:30 in the morning?”

“Jesus Christ, dude, how did you manage to do so much damage to that thing? And obviously I’m here because it’s Pancake Tuesday and I am STARVING . Speaking of which, they’re ready, so get up.”

Changbin grabbed one of Hyunjin’s crutches with one hand and offered his other to the boy lying on the floor. Hyunjin took it with a small nod of thanks, and they made their way downstairs to the kitchen, where his mom was fixing them both plates.

“Good morning sweetie!! I made your favorite pancakes! Changbin, I’m so glad you stopped by, what would I do without my favorite-practically-adopted son to wake up my no good actual son!” Hyunjin’s mom gave them a sarcastic wink as they settled at the table.

Hyunjin wearily eyed the phone in his hand and thought carefully about how to tell his mom. “Morning...I actually was awake when Changbin came up because..um.. this happened,” he held up his phone toward his mom, “I kind of accidentally rolled out of bed and um caught the cord and then my phone flew across the floor and I couldn’t really save it so…”

Hyunjin wasn’t hesitant because he thought his mom would bite his head off, no, he was hesitant for the exact opposite reason. His mom was the sweetest person Hyunjin knew, and she would do anything for him. But that didn’t change the fact that she was their sole provider income wise, and Hyunjin wasn’t naive, he knew that a whole new smartphone would set them back. Yet, despite that, he knew she’d buy one in a heartbeat for him, and he felt guilty.

“Oh no! Sweetie, I don’t care about the phone, are you alright? You have to be more careful! And you wonder why I worry about you so much…” She trailed off, coming up to him and inspecting him for any wounds. Seeing none, she turned her attention to the phone. “Wow, there is really no coming back from that,” she laughed nervously, then said, “but it’s ok! I’ll get online and see what I can do and order you a new one as soon as I can!”

“Mom, you don’t have to worry about it right away, I can last a while without it, it’s ok, really.” This was Hyunjin’s attempt at saying  _ take time and save up, there’s more important things to buy, I’ll be just fine _ , and his mom knew this, but she just shook her head and told him she’d take care of it.

With that, the two boys focused on the food in front of them and dug in, eating the fluffy pancakes faster than they should’ve, and definitely eating more than what anyone would consider humanly possible. Hyunjin loved his mom’s pancakes. It’s funny really, because Pancake Tuesday hadn’t really been “his favorite” since he was in elementary school, yet he’d never actually told her that. The way his mom’s face lit up when she woke him with the promise of his favorite pancakes made the secret worth keeping.

-

Usually, when Hyunjin and Changbin got to school, they’d meet up with Jisung, hang out in the hallway and maybe chat with some of the other soccer team members and what not, and then scramble to class once the tardy bell rang. This plan didn’t quite work out now, as post injury Hyunjin had a slightly difficult time standing up for long. So, his mornings now went more like this: he arrived at school, chatted with Jisung and the others for a moment, and then said goodbye until their shared classes. Hyunjin was then left to his own devices sitting in his homeroom, mostly full of people he didn’t know. He had barely spent any time in there other than what was required, and now he began to regret that he hadn’t paid more attention before. Yesterday, he could have huddled over his phone playing some dumb game, but now that he quite literally shattered that opportunity, he was stuck with people watching and twiddling his thumbs.

And people watch he did. From his seat in the back left corner of the room, he could see everyone trail in one by one. First a girl he recognized from his art class, who always seemed kind of shy but nice enough, then the homeroom teacher himself waltzed in with his bag. After that, a group of rambunctious volleyball players of all sizes and attitudes. As more people strolled in, Hyunjin didn’t notice many people he recognized other than a few faces he may have passed in the hallway. Growing bored, he turned his attention to his sleeve to pick at a loose thread hanging out. A few minutes had passed when he heard a pair of careful footsteps walking across the front of the room. Picking his head up, he felt his eyes widen ever so slightly. 

You know that expression about how when you buy a red car, you start to notice red cars everywhere?

That’s how Hyunjin felt. About Seungmin. 

He met the guy one time, and suddenly he’s noticing him everywhere he goes. Honestly, it was freaking him out a little bit.

Seungmin took his seat at the very first desk in the row Hyunjin sat in, and Hyunjin mentally slapped himself. How had he never noticed him before? He debated if he should maybe get up and go say hi or something, but he quickly realized that it would be a little weird, especially because he couldn’t think of anything natural sounding to say anyway.  _ Stupid. _

_ Wait. Yesterday. The soccer fields. He could ask about that. _

In an act of impulse, Hyunjin grabbed his crutches and moved up to stand in front of Seungmin’s desk. Seungmin lifted his head up at the noise. Hyunjin realized he should probably actually say something.

“Hey there, didn’t realize we had the same homeroom!” Hyunjin’s voice came out just about as nervous as he felt.  _ He was nervous because he was striking up a conversation with a stranger. That’s why. Not at all because Seungmin’s eyes were so striking and focused on him that he felt his deepest secrets were being laid out in front of him. Definitely not because Seungmin was wearing an olive colored sweater that looked really nice on him. Huh? No. Not at all.  _

Seungmin smiled a little. “Hyunjin? You know, we’ve had the same homeroom for almost two months now, you really should work on your observation skills,” he teased. 

Hyunjin laughed, a little less nervous now. “Yeah, you're probably right.”

At this point, Hyunjin realized he hadn’t thought through how to ask about practice last night in an inoffensive way. He was trying to figure out how to word it without coming off rude or dumb when Seungmin broke him from his thoughts and the silent between them. 

“So, is there something you wanted to say or talk about…?”

“Oh! Um, yeah! I just noticed you out at the soccer fields last night and was just um..wondering what brought you out there to watch..or..I mean..you know..” Hyunjin trailed off awkwardly, unable to find a way to redeem himself.

“Why? Can a blind person not enjoy the thrilling game of soccer? A sport loved by many avid fans around the world?” Seungmin held such a straight face that Hyunjin started to form an apology to sputter out, but he was interrupted by a sudden laugh from the boy sitting in front of him.

“I was kidding!! Man, I couldn’t see the look on your face but I bet it was PRICELESS,” after calming himself down, he continued, “No but seriously, it’s ok, I get it. I was there waiting for Jeongin, my best friend and your manager, to be done so we could go over to his house and study! Poor kid can’t do math for anything. And most of it’s just basic algebra.” Seungmin shook his head disappointedly but the fond expression on his face made it clear he cared a lot about the younger.

“Oh, that’s pretty cool. Have you known Jeongin for-” Hyunjin was cut off by the bell’s ring. He hastily muttered a talk to you later and hobbled back to his seat in the back. He couldn’t help but lose his focus every so often thinking about a certain boy’s laugh, which he justified to himself as being an embarrassing moment that happened to stand out in his recent memory. 

His next classes were boring, but less so when he spent the time replaying Seungmin’s teasing words and friendly banter.

-

By the time statistics rolled around, Hyunjin was very glad to be able to socialize with his friends. He didn’t realize how much he used his phone throughout the day, and he was itching to finally talk to his friends and be in their presence. Life was a little more boring without the two scoundrels who were involved in almost every aspect of his life.

When they talked about their days leading up to then, Hyunjin almost brought up his conversation with Seungmin, but something made him hold his tongue. Maybe because it shouldn't have been that important anyway, or maybe he kind of wanted to keep the experience to himself, he wasn't sure. Maybe he was seeing the potential for a new friendship, which was a glimmer of hope in his slightly sad life, and he didn’t want to have these two hooligans scaring him off. So, he pushed away his last thoughts of the boy for now and focused his attention onto his best friends.

They spent the class goofing off until their inevitable forced separation for causing too much noise. Hyunjin couldn’t help but remember that maybe his life wasn’t all that sad, not when he had friends like his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter! This set up some of the action that is to come later on, sorry if it seemed boring or filler, it was at least fun to write! Feel free to leave me a comment with any thoughts or criticisms, it motivates me to keep writing knowing what y'all think!   
> Thanks for reading and feel free to come talk to me on twitter @/starlithobi !! I'd love to chat!
> 
> p.s thank u to my wonderful editing buddy cryl i love u


	4. earbuds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy! back with another chapter! it's quite short, but at least, in my opinion, it's a bit more interesting than the last. I hope you enjoy!!

Over the next few days, Hyunjin fell into a comfortable routine. He woke up, went to school with Changbin in tow, talked to his teammates, each day for a bit longer than before as he became more stable on his crutches, got through his classes, joked around in stats with the boys, sat out in gym class, and finished off his day watching the soccer team practice. Lucky for Hyunjin, the gossip and stares began to die down after a few days, kids moving on to a new topic to obsess over. High schoolers have the attention spans of goldfish, and Hyunjin was at least glad that this worked out in his favor. 

Today had been nothing out of the ordinary, and Hyunjin expected it to stay that way. Halfway through the day, he approached the bench he shared with Seungmin. Setting his bag and crutches down on the ground and assuming his usual place on the bench left of Seungmin, he muttered a small hello. He started shuffling through his bag calmly, looking for his earbuds. After a minute, he realized that they may not actually be there. More frantically this time, Hyunjin rustled through his bag, slapped his pockets just in case, and then repeated the process. He let out a sigh of resignation upon confirming that he definitely had left them at home or had lost them.

“Are you looking for something? Seems like you’re having a bit of trouble there,” Seungmin piped in from his right.

With furrowed brows, Hyunjin responded. “Ah, yeah, I can’t find my earbuds, I swear I put them in my bag this morning but now I don’t know where they are? Strange.”

There was a beat of unusual silence between them before Seungmin responded again, looking a little unsure.

“If you wanted, we could share mine? I mean, I know it’s not the same or anything and I might not have the same music taste as you but we could take turns picking songs or something? Only if you even want to though! You don’t have to if you don’t want to! I-I just thought I’d ask...”

Hyunjin was caught off guard by the offer. He contemplated whether it’d be weird or if Seungmin would think the music he liked was off-putting or anything in between. However, his doubts were quickly outweighed by the realization that there was literally nothing else to distract him from how melancholy watching others play sports was for him. So, he accepted Seungmin’s offer, with a stutter.

“Oh! Um.. okay! Yeah sure, that’d be cool if that’s like... something you’d be down with. Thanks!” 

Hyunjin mentally slapped himself for how awkward his response was, but in his defense, he was caught off guard, ok? That’s what he decided to tell himself, at least. 

While he was distracted with mentally berating himself, the way Seungmin’s shoulders dropped ever so slightly in relief went unnoticed by Hyunjin.

Passing Hyunjin his right earbud, they quickly realized they would need to be quite a bit closer in order for the cord to reach them both. They scooted close enough that their shoulders were almost touching. Almost. 

Seungmin offered up his phone so that Hyunjin could pick the first song. Their hands brushed in the process and Hyunjin felt his face warming up immediately; between the close proximity and now contact, he felt a bit flustered. 

Because here’s the thing. Hyunjin knew, objectively speaking of course, that Seungmin was an attractive guy. He had fluffy brown hair, pretty eyes, a laugh that made everyone around him grin, and a smile that could blind someone. Not that Hyunjin was keeping track of these things, he was just pointing out the facts. He didn’t even really know that much about Seungmin. So it wasn’t like  _ that.  _ But, knowing these things still made Hyunjin feel some kind of way that he didn’t really know how to describe.

So there Hyunjin sat, fumbling with said boy’s phone trying to find a normal song to play on Spotify. 

“Is this Colors?!? I love this song!” Seungmin almost ripped out both their earbuds with his excitement as he turned to ask Hyunjin about the song, grinning.

“Oh, yeah, haha, it is? You know it? None of my friends listen to Day6, you’re the first person I’ve met here who likes them.”

“Yeah I know them! I love their songs, they’re so good! What’s your favorite song by them??”

And just like that, the two boys began talking about the song, and then Seungmin chose a song and they repeated the process again. By the time the teacher was blowing the whistle to go inside, neither boy wanted to part ways from the easy flowing conversation they were having. Seungmin had just been telling Hyunjin about the way he enjoyed covering songs, but that he didn’t post them anywhere because he didn’t want to embarrass himself. Somehow, the conversation had turned from the music they were listening to, to just getting to know each other, and neither of them was complaining.

Unfortunately, it was soon time for them to head their separate ways. Hyunjin, zipping his bag and gathering his crutches, turned one last time to Seungmin. “Hey, uh, thanks again, I appreciated that and I had a lot of fun.”

“Of course, anytime! And me too!” Seungmin gleamed at Hyunjin, waving a small goodbye in his direction.

With that, Hyunjin situated himself and made his way to Changbin and Jisung, and Seungmin pulled his cane from his pocket and turned to walk back toward the school.

-

That evening, Jisung, sweaty from practice, jogged over to where Hyunjin was sat waiting, cheek resting in his hand. 

Out of the blue, Hyunjin asked, “Hey, have you seen my earbuds anywhere? I swear I brought them to school but I couldn’t find them during gym.”

Jisung smirked at Hyunjin, making him look very suspicious. “You dropped them when we were leaving statistics and I picked them up for you actually. I was going to give them back after I changed out and we went outside for class, buuuuut you and Seungmin seemed to be having a great time without them, so I decided to just hold on to them.”

Hyunjin glared at the boy in front of him. “Are you SERIOUS? You little shit, give me my earbuds back! And I'll have you know that I wasn’t having fun, I was suffering through a very awkward experience.”

“Based on the way you were smiling and laughing together, I’d say it didn’t look all that bad,” Jisung said with a suggestive grin.

Hyunjin’s jaw dropped as he felt a familiar warmth spread across his cheeks and ears, yet he couldn’t find the words to deny Jisung’s statement. 

“Whatever! You’ve had your fun, so just give them back!” he stuttered out, beyond annoyed. 

“Mmm….I could do that. How about you tell me about your little crush first? Then I’ll give them back,” Jisung said with an innocent smile, dangling the item of discussion in front of him.

“Yeah, no. Not happening. I don’t even have a crush on him. Or anyone. I barely know him! He just shared an earbud with me! That’s all! Now give me my stuff back or else-”

“Or else what, my little Hyunjinnie? You’re gonna throw a crutch at me?” Jisung teased relentlessly. 

“Wowwww, using my injury against me, that is NOT fair.”

“Neither is hiding your new friend from us, but here we are. So you want your earbuds back? Spill.”

“What do you want me to say? Seungmin and I have only known each other since I got hurt. We have the same homeroom and gym class, obviously. That’s it? Today was like, the first time we really talked more than a hello. That’s it. I swear. Can you please just believe me and give me my stuff back,” Hyunjin whinned.

“Okay, okay, I believe you. Chill. But I think I’m going to hang onto these for now. You guys looked cute today, and you haven’t been smiling and laughing like that since, you know...So yeah. I’ll give these back this weekend. Why this weekend you ask? Well, you see, Changbin and I have planned the Ultimate Best Friend Sleep Over which you must attend because we’re your best friends and also because you want your earbuds back, so, yeah!”

At this point, Hyunjin was way too tired to deal with any more of this dead-end conversation, and he could tell that Jisung was absolutely not letting up on this. Plus, it had been a while since they had all hung out together outside of school. Hyunjin felt slightly guilty, knowing it was his fault from being so withdrawn after the incident. So, he agreed, and they both piled into Jisung’s mom’s car to end their night, Jisung extremely prideful, and Hyunjin in need of some painkillers for his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! I know it was kind of short, but I promise that chapter 5 is gonna be a longer one, so please stay tuned for that! As always, leave a kudos or comment and tell me what you think, I love to get feedback!!! Thanks for reading!!
> 
> come talk to me on twt: my @ is starlithobi !!

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed it! I plan to keep updating this regularly as I have been working on it for a long time. Feel free to comment about any mistakes you may have seen, or any parts you really enjoyed, I would appreciate it! 
> 
> If you want, you can find me on twitter, @/starlithobi !  
> Also, shout out to Cryl for proofreading and supporting me, ily and appreciate you!


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